A Fredholm operator approach to Morita equivalence

GivenC*-algebrasA andB and an imprimitivityA-B-bimoduleX, we construct an explicit isomorphismX _*:K _i (A)K _i (B), whereK _i denotes the complexK-theory functors fori=0, 1. Our techniques do not require separability nor the existence of countable approximate identities. We thus extend to generalC*-algebras the result of Brown, Green, and Rieffel according to which, strongly Morita equivalentC*-algebras have isomorphicK-groups. The method employed includes a study of Fredholm operators on Hilbert modules.On leave from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.